


Oh Brother, What Happened?

by PepperF



Series: Diego whump [15]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kidfic, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Whumptober 2020, dinosaur tea parties, me trying to fix Diego's shitty childhood one fic at a time, science gone wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27026020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperF/pseuds/PepperF
Summary: "Everything's fine," lies Five. They all know he's been trying experiments of some kind in Dad's old laboratory, to get himself back to the body he feels he's earned. None of them really get why he wants to be 58 again, but that aside, they all support him in his endeavors.Or, they had—until something (what? No one understands! Possibly not even Five!) went wrong, and Diego got caught in the crossfire, and...
Series: Diego whump [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951318
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Oh Brother, What Happened?

**Author's Note:**

> Bethany laughed at this one, and also went "awww", which is exactly what I was aiming at. :D

"Everything's fine," lies Five. They all know he's been trying experiments of some kind in Dad's old laboratory, to get himself back to the body he feels he's earned. None of them really get why he wants to be 58 again, but that aside, they all support him in his endeavors. 

Or, they had—until something (what? No one understands! Possibly not even Five!) went wrong, and Diego got caught in the crossfire, and...

"Okay, he miiiight be experiencing some memory loss."

" _Memory_ loss? Five—"

Five rolls his eyes. "And, you know..." He gestures widely over at where Diego is hiding behind a chair. "A decrease in mass, some wear and tear..."

"Five. He's a _child_."

Allison and Five stare at Diego, who makes an unhappy noise and moves further into concealment. He looks to be about six, give or take—and, unlike Five, he's also acting like he's six. Allison isn't sure if that's worse or better. What would it be like, to have an adult Diego trapped in a six-year-old body? She can only imagine the tantrums.

"I believe that was what I said. In a...roundabout way."

"Five!"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, it's not permanent," snaps Five. "Some of us have real problems, you know."

Allison gives him a look that promises dire retribution at a later date—and then she abruptly smooths out and softens her expression as she turns to Diego, crouching so she's at his level. "Hey, Diego. I don't know if you recognize me, but I'm your sister, Allison."

"No you're not," replies Diego, with the unanswerable certainty of a child.

"I know it's hard to believe, honey, but I am. Look, this is Five. Do you recognize him?"

Diego looks uncertainly between her and Five, who at least looks like a child, albeit a much older one. Five, to his credit, manages to stop looking like he's one more inconvenience away from bringing out an axe, and gives a little wave. "Hey, Diego."

Diego looks at him, wide-eyed and warily, but apparently decides he's genuine. "What happened, Five? You got _big_."

Allison snorts, and Five shoots her a nasty look, before smiling wryly at Diego. "Well, you know how Dad was always telling me not to mess around with time?"

"Uh-huh."

"One day I didn't listen to him, and...here we are."

"Ohhhhh. Are you in trouble with Dad?" Diego looks around fearfully, and his voice drops to a whisper. "Is Dad here? Am I g-gonna be in trouble too?"

Oh. Allison had forgotten how terrified Diego used to be of their father, before he learned how to hide it better, and her heart goes out to the little boy. "No, baby, he's not here." How Reginald could have done that to him—to all of them—she will never understand. She resettles so that she's sitting on the floor, cross-legged, looking as unthreatening as possible. "Do you know, I have a daughter, Claire, about your age? She's visiting me at the moment. Would you like to come and meet her?"

Diego looks to Five. "It's okay," says Five, with surprising gentleness. "You can go with Allison. She'll take good care of you."

Diego still looks uncertain, and she can see his lip wobble slightly. Allison half-expects him to ask for their mom, but then she remembers: at six, they hadn’t met Grace yet. They had the nannies, of course, but honestly, she can't remember any of their names. They never stuck around for long. "You're not in any kind of trouble," she promises. "But you'll be safer if you don't stay here while Five does his experiments. Okay?" The last thing they need is for him to get any smaller.

"'M not scared," says Diego, valiantly. Allison can't help smiling. He's still so _Diego_.

"Oh no, of course you're not! But you might get bored, and Claire has lots of toys that need to be played with." His expression brightens, and she holds out her hand invitingly. "You want to come see?"

Cautiously, Diego moves out from behind the chair—and oops, they'll need to get him some clothes in his size, too. Luckily, his adult-size T-shirt works as kind of a tunic, but he's lost his shoes and pants somewhere. "Does she have dinosaurs?"

"Hmmm. I can't remember. Why don't we find out?"

Apparently Diego makes up his mind to trust her, for better or worse, and trots over, putting his little hand in hers with a heavy six-year-old sigh. "Okay. We could do that."

Allison grins at him, and knows that, before he turns big again, she's going to buy him at least one and possibly as many as a dozen dinosaur toys. 

(It wears off eventually. And adult Diego would really, really appreciate it if she took down the photo on her mantelpiece of him in footie pajamas, having a dinosaur tea party with Claire, but Allison just won't listen to reason.)


End file.
